Profiles of young veteran suicides: 'A story we have to hear'

Family and friends chose to discuss their lives — and the manner of their deaths — in the hope of helping others grappling with similar challenges.

The San Diego Union-Tribune embarked on this project to profile all post-9/11 veterans who died by suicide in the county in the recent past. The goal was to find out what they struggled with and to examine what barriers they experienced as they sought help. In other words, what might have saved these lives.

This project takes a comprehensive approach to understanding each case, talking with spouses, parents and siblings and looking at memorial websites, social-media posts, news accounts and reports from the county Medical Examiner’s Office — all in an effort to be respectful and accurate.

“A story can aid families by ratifying what may be a very lonely and isolating pain,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. “For some, it may fulfill a survivor mission, the desire to not have this happen to somebody else.”

It’s tempting, but misleading, to say one thing pushes a person to end his or her life, according to the center’s experts. These veterans’ stories bear that out.

“People have complex motives for joining the military and complex experiences while in the military,” Shapiro said.

“Where these pieces fit in with one another —where you are capturing pre-existing mental illness versus psychological injury — is a very important question. And no two people are the same,” he said.

These are stories of mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Of broken relationships, financial troubles and loss of identity after leaving the uniform. Of drug and alcohol addictions. Of difficulties navigating the Veterans Affairs system and the possible — and, in at least one case, proven — failings of the VA.

Veterans are more likely to be suicidal than the non-military population, research shows. But every post-9/11 veteran doesn’t have PTSD — the number is estimated at one in five. And the great majority of people with PTSD don’t end their lives.

Most veterans who die by suicide are older. We chose to study the under-45 age group because it includes the post-9/11 generation, and San Diego County is home to the nation’s largest cluster of those veterans.

Some of the people profiled here served prior to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but we included their stories because they reflect some of the same themes — including complaints about the system that’s supposed to help those who served.

It’s a story that in some ways nobody wants to hear. And yet, as Shapiro said, “It’s a story we have to hear.”